Duterte: Nobody wants to arrest Trillanes

Nobody is interested to arrest to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday, as the former Navy officer remains wary that he would be arrested if he leaves the Senate building in Pasay City.

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Trillanes has been holed up in the Senate for more than a week now since Duterte issued Proclamation No. 572, voiding the senator’s presidential amnesty and ordering his arrest.

“Nobody is interested to arrest [him]. The military does not have the interest. I do not have the interest. He can stay there as a boarder,” he told reporters in a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

During a Cabinet meeting in Jordan last week, Mr. Duterte said he would “abide by the rule of law” and wait for the court to issue a warrant before Trillanes is arrested.

“I said, do not arrest [him] until there is a warrant of arrest by the court,” Duterte said.

Mr. Duterte’s Proclamation No. 572 directs the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Court Martial of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) “to pursue all criminal and administrative charges” against Trillanes, a fierce critic of the President.

Trillanes questioned the presidential order before the Supreme Court (SC), which junked on Tuesday the senator’s plea for a temporary restraining order to stop the implementation of Proclamation No. 572. The SC referred the matter to the lower court.

“Wala man ang military. It has not constituted the (court martial). It’s only the civilian court but there is no order so if there is no order yet it is difficult to meddle,” Duterte said.

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The Makati Regional Trial Court has deferred the issuance of a warrant of arrest against Trillanes as it asked the senator to provide supplemental comments and a rejoinder to the DOJ’s petition for an arrest warrant. /kga

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